Reds vs. Whites(Horacio Gaitan)

• What groups comprised the Red Army and the White Army during the Civil War, and how did their affiliations affect their ability to win the conflict?
  • Red Army was composed of:
    • Volunteer-based Red Guard was the Bolsheviks' main military force, augmented by an armed military component of the Cheka, the Bolshevik state security apparatus.
    • Red army composed solely of workers would be far too small, Trotsky instituted mandatory conscription of the rural peasantry into the Red Army.
    • Supported the Bolshevik government.
  • The White Army was composed of:
    • The White armies evolved out of this opposition and became the principal threat to the Bolshevik regime.
    • The White Army’s rank-and-file comprised active anti-Bolsheviks, such as Cossacks, nobles, and peasants, as conscripts and volunteers.
  • Their affiliations:
    • White Army:
      • They said they would bring law and order and the salvation of Russia, fighting against traitors, barbarians, and murderers.
      • Against the Red Army and therefore against the Bolshevik government
    • Red Army:
      • Army of the Bolshevik government.
      • Bolshevik government was a communist government structure.
• How did Leon Trotsky go about galvanizing the Red effort to win the civil war? What were the consequences of his efforts?
  • When the Russian Civil War started, Trotsky became commissar for war. His energy and intelligence as a military leader helped decide the war for the Red Army.
  • During the conflict he traveled all over Russia following the war in a heavily armed train.
  • When the White Army attacked, Trotsky responded with a full mobilization of his troops, which increased the size of the Red Army from less than 300,000 in May to one million in October of 1918.
  • Trotsky mobilized the troops to attack the White Army in their weakest points.
  • Trotsky said that the Red Army's organization was built on the ideas of the October Revolution.
• To what extent can the civil war be viewed as an extension of Russia’s experiences in the First World War? To what extent was the civil war responsible for both carrying on the patterns of Russian history as well as turning them in new directions?
  • In both conflicts, Russia had massive numbers of soldiers used in the wars. And in both wars it can be seen that their power was not underestimated but rather they were not given enough credit for their involvement and sacrifices they had to make in order to stay and win both wars. Russia’s Red Army was the army that fought World War 1, with a little help of what was later called the White Army, and in both wars they had greater numbers in troops and fought for what they thought was best for them.
  • The Civil War in Russia was won by the Red Army, which supported the Bolshevik government; which was a communist government. And so the communism took over the country of Russia taking out the monarchy that they had in place before World War 1 started. This is a new directions which unfortunately was not what is now known to be a bad form of directing its population. And the Civil War carried out its history with its leaders. Russia has a history of having mostly cruel leaders, who also happened to great military minds. And so before the Civil War, Lenin was in charge of Russia but after the Civil War Joseph Stalin took over Russia. He is now well known for his horrific actions on the Russian population.

CITATIONS (Reds vs. Whites):

DeFronzo, James. "Russian Revolution and Civil War (Overview)." World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society.ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 6 Oct. 2013.

Stolberg, Eva-Maria, and Tucker, Spencer C. "Russian Civil War: 1917 Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War." World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 6 Oct. 2013.

Head, William. "Leon Trotsky." World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Web. 6 Oct. 2013

Lenin and Bolshevism

Sree Lingam

What were the greatest threats to Lenin and the Bolsheviks in terms of staying in power beyond the Revolution and the Civil War?

• Once Lenin’s government solidified power, the primary goal was to get Russia out of WWI. Lenin’s plan of actions was to send out diplomatic notes to those involved in the war, urging them to end their hostilities immediately, which were ignored. Later an armistice was negotiated with Germany and Austria (pending an actual peace treaty, which was delayed till 1918). Lenin was desperate to end the war at any cost, due to Germany’s constant threat of invading Petrograd. Lenin gave up most of the territory that Russian had acquired since Peter the Great’s reign; the territory lost was comprised of Finland, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine, Belarus, Bessarabia, and the Caucasus region, along with some of the coal-mining lands of southern Russia.

• The loss of territory raised national opposition against the Bolsheviks as a result of signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (which brought the end of the war between Russia and Germany in 1918). The masses also did not approve of Lenin’s readily made decision to let go of such a mass consolidation of territory at once.

• Another source of threat to Lenin and the Bolsheviks came from inside Russia itself - groups that conglomerated against the “Reds” or Bolsheviks included Tsarists, Liberals, SRs and Mensheviks or the "the minority". They formed a large group that they called the “White” Army.

• Understanding the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in a minute

What were the objectives and the outcomes of the Third International (a.k.a., the Comintern)? To what extent were these objectives and outcomes dictated by the situation for the fledgling Soviet Union?

• The Third International was created after separation of the Second. International, which also dealt with WW1. Lenin started the Third International to allow for the spread of anti-pacifistic and anti-nationalistic ideologies.
• As part of the Third International, Lenin introduced the "Twenty-one points" policy. It mandated that members make amends to how their governments were run. Mandates included that countries dismantle any sense of pacifism or nationalism, something that the Third International strongly supported. The Third International sought to achieve the perfect state of communism through an equal government, and anti-pacifist and anti-nationalistic ideas.
• When Stalin stepped into power, he switched the direction in which the third. International was headed towards, particularly in gaining the support of the proletariat. As the Nazis began to rise, alliances between the Soviet Union an Russia were being made, leaving to fundamental differences in mindsets. Stalin dismantled the Third International to ensure the alliance.

How were Lenin & Bolshevism perceived outside of Russia? What was the relationship between the Communist Party and other leftist groups such as Socialists and Anarchists after the Bolshevik Revolution?

• As previously described, the rise of the Nazis led to the dissemination of the Third International, which endorsed many Bolshevik ideals. Nazi Germany particularly disliked the ideology, and caused the third International to dissolve. Hitler's use of false propaganda led to further the divide between the two entities - he specifically spread slander about the Bolsheviks by falsely propagating that the Bolsheviks were Jews who were attempting to re-consolidate Poland. The German masses received that and immediately became enraged with Bolshevism as well as Jews. Bolshevism created a movement that sough to impose the interests of the Menshevik or the "minority" class over that of the majority of the Russian population. The communist ideologies presented by Bolshevism went against Western ideologies - particularly that of Great Britain and the US, so it was not favored in the slightest and received immediate dismissal from the Western countries.
• Other leftist groups like the Anarchists were not compatible as the Anarchists did not agree with much of Bolshevism's core ideals. In fact, the relationship between the two entities was exceedingly violent. The Anarchists frequently broke into prisons to liberate inmates, and demanded that the general masses rise up against the Bolshevik power. Social Revolutionists or the SRs had a similarly negative disposition towards the Bolsheviks mainly due to Lenin's readiness in giving up territory as part of the Brest-Litovsk treaty with Germany. Collectively the two groups supported the suppression of the Bolsheviks.

CITATIONS:

"Comintern." - New World Encyclopedia. New World Encyclopedia, 07 June 2012. Web. 07 Oct. 2013.

"Lenin's Russia." ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2013.

"The Russian Civil War." The Russian Civil War. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2013.

"Russian Revolution of 1917, Communism, Cold War." Russian Revolution of 1917, Communism, Cold War. California State University North Ridge, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2013.

"Treaty of Brest-Litovsk." Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2013.

The Allied Expeditionary Force in Russia

Aston Khor

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  Why did the Allies send forces to Russia during the Civil War?

  • o As WW1 progressed, the Allies became very concerned with the collapse of the eastern front. As well, they were very fearful about Russia losing itself to communism. The Russian Civil war was occurring at this time and a Russia divided would make its military forces on the eastern front t very weak and unstable. The Allies were primarily worried about the large cache of supplies and equipment in Russian Ports. They feared that the Germans would take these supplies. They were lead to fear this because of the landing of a division of German troops in Finland.

http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/jpg/pbdepart.jpg

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  To what extent were they involved in the course of the conflict, and what factors limited greater involvement?

  • o Allied intervention was limited by the location and distance from home fronts that the civil war was being held. Because the British, French, and US had to send troops through the Baltic Sea, it was not possible for them to send troops and supplies constantly. The Baltic sea was a dangerous area during WW1 because of German sea vessel patrols. Because of this we saw involvement by the allies on a limited and expeditionary scale. In July 1918, against the advice of the United States Department of War, President Wilson agreed to the limited participation of 5,000 United States Army troops in the campaign. This force become known as the "American North Russia Expeditionary Force" and were sent to Arkhangelsk while another 8,000 soldiers, organized as the American Expeditionary Force Siberia, was sent to more northern parts of Russia.
  • o There was also limited participation because of the other war that was being fought. Limited troops could be spared from the other parts of WW1 in which the Allied forces were having a tough time.
  • o The Allies officially backed the “White” Russian Forces, those that were pro tsarist. After exiting the war, Allied forces saw the loss of the whites in the war and the subsequent fall of the state.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Ej%C3%A9rcito-rojo--russianbolshevik00rossuoft.png

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  What were the perceptions of the Red and White forces of the Allied intervention in Russia?

  • o Perception by Reds
    • § Resentful of Allied intervention in the war not only because of their differing political system beliefs, but also for prolonging the war. The reds supported a communist empire and hated the capitalist allied powers.
    • § After the Bolsheviks win the war there is still much lingering hatred between the communist entity and the capitalist ones. This set the tone for the Cold War conflicts later.

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  o Perception by Whites

  • § The Allies were sent to support the whites and so the whites were very grateful of their help.
  • § Because of their similar ideologies in Anti-Communist ideas, they worked together well with the idea that they were in the right.
  • § Although the whites had the support of the Allies, this did not increase their military power, it simply provided them stability

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  To what extent could it be said that the intervention had a significant effect on their efforts to win the Civil War?

  • o The intervention of Allied Expeditionary forces had a large effect on the course of the war. There was definitely a prolonging of the war because of the Allied assistance. It was only after the Allies withdrew that the Reds started to find success and their eventual victory. Allied intervention played a large role in only prolonging the war. The Whites were never given the upper hand in battle with the assistance of the Allies. They simply were given more resources to prolong the eventual loss.

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  To what extent was this intervention part of the dynamic of the First World War?

  • o The intervention was a very small part of the dynamic of the First World War. The involvement of Allied forces in Russia only served to secure the arms and ports of Russian cities. This assisted in the greater war at hand. In addition this move was an effort to secure the eastern front that was in massive disarray.

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  To what extent was the Allied intervention a factor in the course of Soviet relations with western countries and the US after the Civil War?

  • o Because of the allied support of the White Anti-Bolshevik forces, the Red Bolsheviks harbored much resent even after their victory. This would set the tone for the much later conflict between communists and capitalist entities seen in the Cold War.

Bibliography

Karpovich, Michael, and Leonid I. Strakhovsky. "Intervention at Archangel: The Story of Allied Intervention and Russian Counter-Revolution in North Russia, 1918-1920." The American Historical Review 50.1 (1944): 99. Print.

Shmelev, Anatol. "The Allies in Russia, 1917–20: Intervention as Seen by the Whites." Revolutionary Russia 16.1 (2003): 87-107. Print.

White, John A., and John Bradley. "Allied Intervention in Russia." The American Historical Review 77.1 (1972): 183. Print.